BFI London Film Festival 2018: Something for everyone
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The 2018 BFI London Film Festival gets underway next Wednesday,10/10/18.
The capital’s biggest celebration of film will show entries from around the world at 13 prestigious venues, including the iconic BFI IMAX and unique Embankment Garden Cinema. There are highlights throughout the 12-day festival, but we’ve picked out something for everyone to enjoy, regardless of their taste in cinema.
If you like realistic, evocative dramas...
Roma
Alfonso Cuarón’s epic drama, written, directed, produced, co-edited and photographed by the Mexican, follows a middle-class family in the neighbourhood of Roma, Mexico City. This Spanish-language film is considered Cuarón’s most personal project to date, closely mirroring his own upbringing. Starring Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira and Diego Cortina Autrey among others, this film has been acquired by Netflix for streaming alongside a cinema release.
Showings at the Embankment Garden Cinema and Picturehouse Central are sold out, but viewers will hope the film is worth the wait.
Release date: 14 December
If you like criminal thrillers...
Widows
Oscar award-winning director Steve McQueen’s latest epic follows four women in modern Chicago with nothing in common besides a debt left behind from their late husbands’ criminal activity. Tensions build when the quartet decide to take their fate into their own hands. A star-studded cast includes Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo in starring roles.
Next week’s screenings at Embankment Garden Cinema and Odeon Tottenham Court Road are sold out, but the public can see the film when it hits cinemas next month.
Release date: 6 November
If you like political dramas...
The Front Runner
Hugh Jackman stars as American Senator Gary Hart as his 1988 presidential campaign unravels amid an affair scandal in his personal life. The biographical film follows the rise and fall of Hart, as director Jason Reitman explores what ultimately cost the Democrat candidate his chance of presidency.
Showings at Embankment Garden Cinema and Cineworld Leicester Square on Sunday 14 and Monday 15 October are still available.
Release date: 6 November
If you like biographical dramas...
Beautiful Boy
Belgian director Felix Van Groeningen’s first English-language film follows father and son David and Nic Sheff and their emotional rollercoaster as a family coping with long-term addiction. Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet join forces in this inspiring story of survival, relapse and recovery.
Screenings at Cineworld Leicester Square and the Embankment Garden Cinema are sold out, but film fans will not have long to wait for the full release.
Release date: 12 October
If you like romantic dramas…
If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins, the director behind 2016’s Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight, returns. Set in early-1970s Harlem, it follows the empowering story of an African-American woman seeking to clear the name of her wrongly convicted husband. Based on James Baldwin’s novel of the same name, the film features KiKi Layne and Stephan James in starring roles.
Showings at the Embankment Garden Cinema and Picturehouse Central are currently sold out.
Release date: 30 November
If you like war documentaries…
They Shall Not Grow Old
The latest project from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, this ultra-realistic first world war depiction features lots of unseen and exclusive footage of a seismic event in British history. The footage has been presented in an unprecedented level of detail thanks to modern colourisation, 3D conversions and production techniques.
Screenings at the BFI Southbank are sold out, but fans can still catch the documentary as it is shown across the UK on release day.
Release date: 16 October